Facing the requirement of building an adept, compact, strong military advancing straight to modernity, the organisation of technical equipment warehouses to satisfy demands of combat training and readiness as well as socio-economic development is an important mission. Nevertheless, it is also a problem of great difficulty and complexity due to factors bequeathed by history and new developments of situation. Consequently, the research and proposal of measures to successfully carry out this task are very urgent.

The system of military technical equipment warehouses (thereinafter referred to as the warehouse system), which belongs to the system of technical support facilities, is organised with the aim of keeping weapons, equipment, and technical materials in good, synchronous technical conditions, enabling units to undertake combat training, readiness, and combat mission.

During wartime, the warehouse system is very important and the rear bases to provide persistent technical devices for the armed forces, thus often becoming one of the enemy’s critical targets of destruction. To meet mission requirements, our military has established a fairly complete, scientific, robust warehouse system to provide timely support for the frontline. Nevertheless, due to its formation and development in the liberation war, there remain limitations as compared to requirements of building and safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation despite having been adapted and planned by echelons. For example, the warehouse system is not distributed evenly. Many warehouses are no longer suitable to operations plans as well as socio-economic development planning of localities. Devolution of support lacks synchronicity. The volume and types of technical equipment reserves do not satisfy demands. The organisation of warehouses is not consistent. The infrastructure is downgraded. These problems require comprehensive solutions to reorganise the warehouse system, ensuring that it both inherits achievements and matches new developments of today’s cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland. Some of the following key matters should be taken into consideration.

First, the warehouse system must be organised in association with establishing the technical equipment reserve and support posture close to requirements of combat training, combat readiness, and combat. This solution is key to overall planning of the warehouse system. Given features and methods of modern operations, use of high-tech weapons will blur the boundaries between the frontline and the rear, which is regarded as safe areas for storing technical equipment. Moreover, our country is long and narrow, which is highly vulnerable to strategic partition. The warehouse system, therefore, needs to be proactively positioned and calculated in terms of both volume and type of technical equipment reserves in peacetime according to directions; suitable to support demands of both combat training, combat readiness, and combat in each strategic area and potential operational areas; avoid concentration of major warehouses and many reserves within an area. This ensures that the warehouse system is widespread, which can meet the requirements of support according to complete areas, evade massive losses in case of attacks, and carry out flexible technical support combining on-site support with mobile support.

Accordingly, the position of each warehouse must match operations plans within the “Concept of Operations (CONOPS) A” and the CONOPS of the defence zone; be ready to adjust the reserves posture to match practical situations. Specifically, it is necessary to prepare substitute positions for potential dispersion, evacuation, and movement as requested by strategic, operational level of war. These positions are also conducive to management, reception, and allocation of technical equipment reserves at the same time. The number of warehouses and volume and type of technical equipment need to be determined on the basis of the needs for technical equipment reserves in areas and regions in support of combat training and readiness, avoiding overlapping missions. The critical reserves volume must be stored and managed in strategic warehouses as stipulated by the strategic CONOPS. The operational, tactical warehouses should only keep good technical equipment to support direct combat training and readiness. If it is impossible to establish higher-echelon warehouses, suitable reserves volume can be stored in lower-level warehouses with additional staff and expenditure.

Second, the warehouse system must be organised to satisfy the demand of building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern military. The Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress has laid out the goal of building an adept, compact, strong military with a clear vision about adapting the technical branch, especially changes to the leading positions of some specialties and streamlining of all units, including the defence warehouse system. Accordingly, the organisation of the warehouse system, especially the specialised warehouses, will witness considerable changes in terms of directly affiliated units, storage functions and missions, sub-sectors, support responsibility, and so forth. To fulfil these requirements, the organisation of warehouse system needs to clearly specify organisational scale (independent warehouse and/or sub-warehouse) and warehouses’ directly affiliated units based on new assignment of technical majors or the plan for adaptation of warehouses, which ensures that the strategic, operational echelons have sufficient warehouses as requested by operations plans and devolution of support. It is vital to specify functions, missions, and staffing of units as well as scope of support and volume and type of technical equipment reserves, which lays the foundation for overall planning and developing organisational and operational regulations of each warehouse and sub-warehouse. The strategic warehouses should be organised according to specialties and under direct management and support of each technical branch. An integrated warehouse is only established and commonly managed by a specialty if it is impossible to organise a specialised warehouse. The other specialties are responsible for managing and supporting their own technical equipment. The number of strategic warehouses needs to be reduced according to the principle of neatness, with everything in an area and region. Warehouses storing same types of technical equipment and close to one another will be partly converted into independent sub-warehouses under direct management of major warehouses or passed to operational level if the warehouses are situated in the forward areas according to the strategic level of war. There needs to avoid concentrating technical equipment in one warehouse to reduce the number of warehouses as the warehouses would be dispersed in wartime. The operational-level warehouses are organised in a comprehensive multisectoral direction and under the centralised management of technical departments in both peacetime and wartime. The number of operational-level warehouses is adjusted to ensure that the single warehouses are converted into independent ones under the direct management of the major ones. The tactical-level warehouses are organised according to the number of units, in a comprehensive multisectoral fashion, and under the management of technical departments.

Additionally, the adjustment of the warehouse system must be aligned with the digital transformation plan of the Military Technique, which ensures that management of the warehouse system and individual warehouses is carried out on the digital foundation and highly effective in regular operations as well as in wartime.

Third, the organisation of the warehouse system must be suited for socio-economic development plans nationwide and of each locality. Most of the warehouses have been positioned in areas suitable to CONOPS of units so far. However, many ammunition depots are situated in barracks next to urban, residential areas. In some cases, as a result of localities’ expansion of socio-economic development planning, positions of newly-built structures no longer guarantee warehouse safety corridors as well as social order and safety. This requires adjustment of the warehouse system to facilitate socio-economic development in localities and contribute to establishment of national defence and security posture in the new situation. To do this, the Military Technique needs to further grasp and seriously implement Decree No. 148/2006/ND-CP, dated 12 February 2006, of the Government and Directive No. 96/CT-BQP, dated 7 May 2011, of the Minister of National Defence on safe distance of ammunition depots. In addition, it should review safety of ammunition and toxic chemicals kept in warehouses near residential areas or related to socio-economic activities of localities. The review will provide foundation for proposing safety plans in the direction of moving these warehouses out of densely populated areas; reducing the volume of technical equipment with potential risks; or shifting towards storing non-hazardous materials. Regarding localities’ requirement of expanding warehouse-related land area for socio-economic development, military regions need to cooperate with them on overall planning; determine the extent of urgency and possibility of accepting alternative plans; report the plans to the General Staff and Ministry of National Defence for approval.

Furthermore, another important issue that needs to be resolved is the existence of “military personnel’s villages” next to warehouses over the course of time. Meanwhile, the planning and organisation of the warehouse system must be carried out according to some plans, including adjusting branch and level of management as well as warehouses’ scope of support; adjusting scale and position of warehouses; terminating operation of warehouses. All these plans are likely to cause changes in terms of not only organisation and operation but also feelings of soldiers and their families. Consequently, it is necessary to work out proper solutions to organisational adjustment; assess situations carefully and have measures to address concerns of military personnel; attach importance to assignment of suitable jobs to professional servicemen and women, especially the professional women. This will facilitate reorganisation of warehouse system while minimising collateral effects to soldiers and their families.

Here are a few thoughts about the organisation of the warehouse system, which can be applied by units to timely discover irrational issues when they realise the Project on amending and supplementing the planning of military technical equipment warehouse system in the 2018-2025 period and beyond of the Ministry of National Defence as instructed by Resolution No. 05-NQ/TW, dated 17 January 2022, of the Politburo (13th tenure) and the Resolution No. 230-NQ/TW, dated 2 April 2022 of the Central Military Commission on leading the organisation of Vietnam People’s Army in the 2021 – 2030 period and beyond.

Major General, Associate Professor, Doctor PHAM DUNG TIEN and Major, Master NGUYEN THANH TUNG